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PHARMACON GRAPHE

PHARMACON GRAPHE (φαρμάκωνγραφή, Dem. c. Aristocr. p. 627.22, etc.; φαρμακείαςκατηγορία, only in
argum. Antiph. c. Noverc.), an indictment
against one who caused the death of another by poison, given either by
himself or by another person at his instigation (Dem. c.
Aristocr, p. 628.24=p. 627.22 lex, and
Andoc. Myst. § 94, τὸνβουλεύσανταἐντῷαὐτῷἐνέχεσθαικαὶτὸντῇχειπὶἐργασάμενον: it was under this latter law that the charge of
poisoning was brought against the stepmother (Antiph. Or. i.:
cf. § 20, ἡδὲαἰτίαἤδη, καὶἐνθυμηθεῖσακαὶχειρουργήσασα, i. e. ἡπέμψασατὸφάρμακονκαὶκελεύσασαἐκείνῳδοῦναιπιεῖν, § 26). It was tried by the court of Areiopagus
(Dem. l.c., and Pollux, 8.117). That the malicious
intent (πρόνοια) was a necessary ingredient
in the crime follows from Arist. Magn. Mor. 1.17, p. 1188 b,
31, whence we learn that the Areiopagus once acquitted a woman who had given
a love potion with fatal results to a man, ὅτιτὴνδόσιντοῦφίλτρουοὐμετὰδιανοίαςτοῦἀπολέσθαιαὐτὸνἐδίδου (the woman in Antiph. c. Nov.
§ 20 was put to death for the same offence, but she was a slave).
Hence the case in Antiph. sup. Choreut. is not an instance of
the indictment under discussion, for the boy Diodotus was poisoned by a
draught given him to improve his voice (εὐφωνίαςχάρινἔπιεφάρμακονκαὶπιὼντέθνηκεν,argum). The punishment was death (Aelian, Ael. VH 5.18; Plut. de Ser. Numin.
vindic. 7, p. 552 D). Poisonous drugs were frequently
administered as love potions or for other purposes of a similar nature
(Alciphr. Ep. 1.37). Men whose minds were affected by them
were said (φαρμακᾶν. Wills made by a man
under the influence of drugs (ὑπὸφαρμάκων) were void at Athens (Dem. c. Steph. p.
1133.16). Women who practised sorcery were called φαρμακίδες or φαρμακευτρίαι
(Lucian, Dial. Mer. 4; Theocr. ii.). Demosthenes, as we learn
from Philochorus (Harpocr. s. v. Θεωρίς),
brought a γραφὴἀσεβείας against the
Lemnian Theoris; she was put to death (Plut. Dem.
14; [Dem.] c. Aristog. i. p. 793.79), and Ninus
suffered a like fate (Dem. F. L. p. 431.281) on a charge
brought by Menecles, ὡςφίλτραποιούσηςτοῖςνέοις (Schol. to Dem. l.c.;c. Boeot. i. p. 995.2; ii. p. 1010.9); see also Plat.
Legg. xi. p. 933 D. (Att. Process, ed.
Lipsius, p. 382 f.)